Georgia-Pacific, a major producer of building and paper products, said it is investing more than $375 million in a south Alabama plant that produces linerboard and cartonboard used in making boxes.
The investment will make the plant in Brewton more energy efficient, Georgia-Pacific said. Part of the project involves modernizing the mill’s recovery boiler system.
The plant, which employs about 450 people, produces white-top linerboard and solid bleached cartonboard.
“We will become self-sufficient in terms of the energy needed for our processes,” Jeff Joyce, vice president and general manager at the Brewton mill, said in statement.
This is Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific’s second major announcement of improvements at a paper packaging or products plant in recent months.
In May, the company, whose paper product brands include Quilted Northern, Angel Soft, Brawny, announced it would invest about $40 million to expand a Dixie paper products plant in Fort Smith, Ark.
In June, Georgia-Pacific Consumer Products LP said it will acquire Dallas-based paper packaging provider SPG Holdings LLC., which supplies the foodservice industry.
Georgia-Pacific, owned by Koch Industries, also is investing millions in its building products operations as the housing and commercial construction industries rebound.
The company announced last year that it would be spending $400 million to expand plants and upgrade equipment at its plywood and lumber operations in several states beginning this year.
In addition to Georgia and Alabama, the company has operations in North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas.
Georgia-Pacific said it has invested about $1.4 billion in its Alabama operations in recent years. The company employs about 2,500 workers in the state and 35,000 worldwide.
